United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10900 OMB No. 10240018
Ames Main Street Historic District Story, IA Name of Property County and State
3. Statement of Significance
Applicable National Register Criteria
x A. Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history.
B. Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past.
x C. Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack
individual distinction.
D. Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important in prehistory or
history.
Criteria Considerations
A. Owned by a religious institution or used for religious purposes
B. Removed from its original location
C. A birthplace or grave
D. A cemetery
E. A reconstructed building, object, or structure
F. A commemorative property
G. Less than 50 years old or achieving significance within the past 50 years
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Ames Main Street Historic District Story, IA Name of Property County and State
Areas of Significance __Architecture______Commerce______Transportation_____
Period of Significance __1891-1967______
Significant Dates 1891 1937 1966
Significant Person ______
Cultural Affiliation ______
Architect/Builder Cowgill, Clinton H. Kimball, Allen H. Cole, Ben Bailie, Robert Sprague, Harold Bowers, Charles Liebbe, Nourse & Rasmussen Tinsley, McBroom & Higgins Proutfoot & Bird Germanson & Foss James Thompson & Sons Moorman and Company
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Ames Main Street Historic District Story, IA Name of Property County and State
Statement of Significance Summary Paragraph
The Ames Main Street Historic District is eligible for the National Register under Criterion A for its local significance to the development of commerce in Ames as a response to the nearby railroad and the economic opportunities provided by Iowa State College (later Iowa State University).
The Ames Main Street Historic District is also eligible for the National Register under Criterion C for its local significance in architecture. It is an outstanding example in Iowa of the widespread influence, sustained over a long period of time and with contributions by both professional architects and local contractor-builders, of vernacular commercial styles of architecture. The commercial influence is further reflected in the numerous renovations and modernizations, which allowed Ames to accommodate commercial change and growth throughout the 20th century. Because of these themes, the period of significance has been set between 1891-1967. 1891 relates to first construction boom of brick buildings in downtown and 1967 encompasses the time after the railroad tracks were moved in 1966 when rear elevations of buildings were renovated and the area was developed into a parking lot, which is still used today. One other significant date is 1937 when there was a large concentration of building renovations as a response to infrastructural growth. These dates were chosen to reflect the major trends which formed were most influential in shaping the appearance of Ames today.
______Narrative Statement of Significance
Significance under Criterion A: Commerce and Transportation
DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY (1860s – 1891) The development of commerce in Ames is historically significant because it calls attention to the growing interconnections between Iowa State University as an institution and the people of Ames as a city. The commercial buildings constructed because of these extensive, mutually beneficial interconnections graphically illustrate how entrepreneurs responded to the economic opportunities created by the railroad and college expansion. The physical extent of businesses in the Main Street District prospered in relation to the growth of the college; college administration, faculty, staff, and student body participated in the growing commercial life of the city; the City of Ames undertook improvements to the city's infrastructure to promote economic development; local business clubs and associations worked to improve the business environment; professionals at the college provided technical assistance in the planning and construction of commercial buildings; and, in some cases, college personnel launched their own businesses as the result of research and development in their fields of specialization.
Following the close of the Civil War, the nation's railroads grew from 36,801 miles in 1866 to 193,346 miles in 1900. The period also saw a great expansion of domestic and foreign markets for the nation's agricultural products. This was made possible, in part, by the expanded rail network, but also by a growing population. During this time, the number of farms in the United States doubled. Technological advances also contributed to high agricultural yields. Many new
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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10900 OMB No. 10240018
Ames Main Street Historic District Story, IA Name of Property County and State implements included the spring tooth harrow, disc harrow, corn shucking and binding machines, cream separators, and giant harvester threshing machines. The total value of farm machinery increased from $271 million (1870) to $740 million (1900).
On the local level, the town of Ames and Story County, the larger governmental unit, began to see concentrated construction activity along Main Street (then known as Onondaga Street). The selection of commercial sites and construction of buildings on Main Street illustrates a pattern of growth along the street from east to west.
The northwest corner of Duff and Onondaga Street was the site of the first strictly commercial building in Ames, constructed at one point between 1865-1866 (the depot had previously been used to sell goods). According to C.E Turner's 1876 Centennial History of the Town of Ames, the next substantially commercial building erected was that of S.O. Osborn, a druggist, who built his store at the northwest corner of Onondaga and Douglas Streets. In 1866, S. H. Miller, a hardware merchant, erected a store building on the northeast corner of Main (at that point known as Onondaga) and Douglas. Early merchants recognized the importance of street intersection corners to attract customers. The northwest corner of Douglas and Main was also the site of the original public water supply "the town pump," and a second pump and well were located at the corner of Kellogg Avenue and Main Street. (Seidel. p. 3.)
By the late 1860s, the 100 block of Main Street was established as the commercial center of the town, with the north side preferred by merchants. This distinction would continue for some time. Parley Sheldon's bank and Wallace M. Greeley's bank, for example, were both located on the north side. The notable 1883 Tilden Block was also constructed on the north side.
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Ames Main Street Historic District Story, IA Name of Property County and State
Figure 1. An 1882 photo showing the north side of Onondaga (Main) Street from the corner of Onondaga and Douglas Avenue. This photo shows Ames Drug Store on the corner was operated by S. O. Osborn. The next store to left, built in 1867 by D. and S. L. Lucas, was purchased in 1868 by D. A. Bigelow and H. C. Huntington. These men joined in partnership with George G. Tilden in 1869. Tilden became sole owner of that mercantile business in 1883. The next brick building to the left was built by Bigelow, Huntington, and Tilden in 1873 as they expanded their clothing business. (Farwell T. Brown Photo Archive 5.23A.4)
Because of its proximity to the railroad tracks, the south side of Onondaga became the logical choice for commercial activities directly associated with the shipment of heavy goods. In 1877, for example, William O. Boyd, successor to S. H. Miller's hardware business, also occupied a large warehouse on the south side of Onondaga Street for his merchandise. Of many early business firms mentioned by Turner, only one, Lods, Monroe & Soper, constructed a large, permanent commercial building on the south side of Onondaga Street. That the firm traded in livestock corroborates the contention that the south side of the street catered more to enterprises dealing in large and heavy goods.
The 1870-1900 period saw the development of the city's infrastructure that contributed to Ames' later economic growth. These capital improvements included a waterworks plant that was
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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10900 OMB No. 10240018
Ames Main Street Historic District Story, IA Name of Property County and State erected shortly after a bond was approved by the public in 1891 and erected in January, 1893. A private electric light works was established in 1882. This company subsequently expanded its operations with a public heating system. This unusual service supplied steam heat to the business portion of Ames through underground mains. The success of this public heating system undoubtedly related directly to the community's experience with fire and its concern for public safety and property.
The capital improvements made by the City included a waterworks plant that was erected in January 1893, shortly after a bond was approved by the public in 1891. The success of this bond issue and subsequent construction of the City water tower on Kellogg Avenue related directly to the community's anxieties following its experience with the devastating fires in 1886 and 1887 that claimed many of the buildings on the north side of Main Street.
Despite these improvements, the 1870-1900 period was one of mixed economic progress. The Panics of 1873 and of 1893 shook the nation's financial confidence and pointed out the dangers of too rapid growth and speculation. The financial markets related to the agricultural economy. Farm wholesale prices for the period suggest the difficulties encountered by the farm sector. Taking 1870 as a base index at 112, for example, the index plunged to 80 in 1880, rose to 99 two years later, only to fall again in 1886 to 68. The index hit bottom in 1896 at 56. (Morris, Encyclopedia of American History, p. 508)
Figure 2. Showing the north side of Onondaga Street sometime before 1910. The Odd Fellows Building is the tall building on the very left. The Tilden Block buildings in right-center were built in 1883. (Farwell T. Brown Photographic Library 10.42.1-2)
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Ames Main Street Historic District Story, IA Name of Property County and State
Figure 3. One of the earliest photographs of Ames’ Main Street (Onondaga) taken in 1875 (Farwell T. Brown Photographic Archive 91A.492.1-2)
Within this era of price fluctuations, the five-year period between 1879-1884, stands out for its prosperity. This was followed by a period of overproduction that also saw foreign competition and a decline in prices until 1896. Other indications of unrest in the farm economy were illustrated by the emergence of the Greenback Party, James Weaver of Iowa's candidacy for the presidency in the 1892 federal election, and "Coxey's Army" march to Washington, D. C., in 1894.
The effects of these national trends undoubtedly made a mark on Ames, yet evidence of conflicting trends can be found. Throughout the Midwest, beginning about 1890, the enactment of the McKinley Tariff, which placed taxes on foreign goods and ushered in national affluence, drove an era of affluence. In Ames, an economy stabilized by the presence of the state agricultural college, was able to rebound more quickly even while experiencing some of the trials of the 1880s. For example, in 1885, George H. Maxwell of Ames brought four Percheron stallions with him from France (Allen, p 229). But the same year also has been described as a
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Ames Main Street Historic District Story, IA Name of Property County and State year of hard times, characterized by crop failures. Only one new mercantile building was constructed in Ames (the Cook building). In the nearby towns, there were none in Nevada (neighboring city about 8 miles east of downtown Ames), only one in Story City (located about 12 miles north of downtown Ames), and one in Maxwell (located about 20 miles southeast of downtown Ames). "In the majority of the towns a number of substantial residences have been erected during the year, which will go far towards helping out the general average .... Many of the residences of the past year's build will reach as high as $2,500 each, and in a couple of instances over $3,000." (Allen, p. 137).
Ames’ central business district saw the construction of many new buildings in the wake of fires that ravaged Onondaga Street in 1882, 1886, and 1887. As the central business districts in Grinnell and Spencer, Iowa, illustrate, fires and other natural disasters can create a clean slate that can stimulate community cooperation in rebuilding, which often results in uniform and impressive commercial design. Fires and other disasters in Ames have been on a smaller scale, but they too changed the streetscape. In 1882 a major fire in the Ames business district totally consumed Edward Barstow's Drug Store. A hardware store adjacent to it was partly destroyed (Allen, p. 86).
In 1886, two disastrous fires destroyed the business blocks of K. W. Brown, W. W. Booth, the Thomas Brothers, and Boyd and Douglas on the north side of Onondaga Street. (Intelligencer, Jan. 21, 1886; Oct. 6, 1887). In 1887 another fire wiped out an opera house located at the east end of Main Street. Several adjacent buildings were also destroyed. (Intelligencer, Oct. 6, 1887) The community remained without a public downtown meeting hall for some years. When one was constructed, it was in the 200 block of Main Street, somewhat west of the original. In 1911, the History of Story County reported that the East End of Main Street had never reclaimed its previous relative commercial importance; however, the burned district had been mostly recovered by that time. (Payne, W.O., History of Story County, Iowa) In an attempt to combat this problem, Ames began to install better waterworks systems and heavily restricted future construction of wood buildings on Main Street. The result of this shift can be seen in the mass of brick structures, constructed following 1887, on Main Street today.
An orderly system characterizes the street numbers of commercial buildings within the Ames central business district. From early documents, it appears that property owners selected these numbers. The 1891 city directory notes: "Absence of a number of the building after any name indicates that the owner has failed to place a number thereon up to date of completion ... ". Lot size and shape play a major role in determining the development of commercial property. This is because a commercial building typically fills most, if not the entire, lot. An irregular shape or a peculiarity of lot size, therefore, impacts building design for commercial buildings far more than residential ones. Because of the angled entrance of the railroad into the central business district from the east, lots between Duff and Kellogg avenues on the south side of Main Street were originally platted with shorter depths than those on the north side of Main Street. These south side lots also were platted with obliquely angled rear lot lines. In compensation, the south lots were platted with 50' widths at the street, twice the width of those on the north side of the street. This caused some buildings to have longer facades, resulting in blocks and buildings like the row of shops from 108 to 122 Main which was colloquially referred to as the “Skyscraper Block” because it would tower over Downtown Ames if the width were flipped to
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Ames Main Street Historic District Story, IA Name of Property County and State stand vertically. (See Photo 009.)
In the case of downtown Ames, many of the irregular lots between Main Street and the railroad tracks lack depth. In Block 13 (now the south 100 block of Main) of the Original Town, for example, those lots to the east are quite shallow. This physical characteristic seems to have discouraged the construction of permanent buildings at the east end of the 100 block. Another possible consequence of the peculiarity of lot sizes is the irregularity of facade widths in the 100 block on the south side of Main. The buildings at 108-124 Main, for example, vary between approximately 12-1/2 and 25 foot widths. Other buildings like that at 224 Main are even narrower. As late as 1897, buildings on the east end of Main Street remained wood frame, irregularly spaced, and of non-conforming dimensions as seen below.
Figure 4. An 1897 photograph showing the typical wood-frame buildings which were present at the east end of Onondaga Street. Soon after, this style of building was replaced with the brick standard that remains prominent throughout the district. (Farwell T. Brown Photographic Archive #8.33.4)
In conclusion, the period between 1864 and 1891 saw the birth and first growth of Ames as a city and a commercial center. The city's street system was laid out during this time, trends in the physical expansion of the city emerged, and basic commercial activities were established. This period of local history laid the groundwork for the commercial growth that followed. In the early years of Ames’ history, most downtown buildings were wood-framed, but fires in 1886 and 1887 claimed many of the buildings on the north side of Main Street, leading to the construction of brick buildings in hopes of avoiding such conflagration in the future (Douglas L. Biggs and Gloria J. Betcher. Ames. Images of America Series. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing 2014. pg. 19). The larger, more permanent brick buildings constructed in the late 1880s and early 1890s, many of which still stand, were signs of the community’s economic wellbeing.
Although the internal core of some commercial buildings are thought to remain intact from this early period, few commercial facades remain. The fact that few resources survive intact from this
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Ames Main Street Historic District Story, IA Name of Property County and State period is not surprising. The earliest stores were roughly made, usually constructed of wood and were (even at the time) considered to be temporary. Brick buildings were considered to be permanent. The few brick facades that survive from the period (like the building at 212 Main Street) are exceptions to the widespread “face-lifting” of façades which began as a trend in Ames during the first half of the 20th century.
THE PROGRESSIVE ERA IN AMES (1891-1918)
After the 1890 enactment of the McKinley Tariff, both the nation's and Iowa’s agricultural economies stabilized in the 1900-1914 era. The 1897-1914 period is generally remembered as the "Golden Age of Agriculture" (as in Willard W. Cochrane's The Development of American Agriculture, 1979, p. 100). These years are frequently cited as benchmarks to measure farm products’ wholesale prices. Such an index is also used here, by extension, to indicate the farm family's economic health, its potential to be a good retail customer, and its likelihood to send children to college. All three of these helped to further development of downtown Ames.
Figure 5. Section Taken from the USGS State of Iowa’s topographic “1912 Ames Quadrangle Geological Survey Map” (https://archive.org/details/1912AmesQuadrangleTopographicalMap)
During the 1890s in Story County, farmlands rose in price and areas hitherto held by speculators formally found buyers who settled the lands and began to farm (Payne, p. 435). Beginning in the 1890s, faculty and administration at Iowa State began actively to participate in the commercial life of the community. Joseph L. Budd, professor of horticulture at the college and a founder of the Iowa State Horticultural Society, financed, around 1891, a half-interest in the construction of
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Ames Main Street Historic District Story, IA Name of Property County and State the John L. Stevens Building at 231-233 Main Street. Budd's participation in this venture appears to have been strictly an investment, because he soon sold his interest to Stevens. But Budd quickly became involved with the construction of another building, this time across the street. The Masonic Hall at 232-234 Main Street resulted in a large part from Budd's activity. Edgar W. Stanton, professor of mathematics and four times acting president of Iowa State, served as a vice-president of the Union National Bank.
Figure 6. This 1900 photo shows the northeast corner of Onondaga Street (now Main) and Kellogg Avenue. The corner (far left) building was built in 1891 by Professor J. L. Budd and Judge John L. Stevens. The Opera House occupied the entire second floor of this building with a capacity for 600. Grove and Zenor Grocery Store (afterwards, Grove Bros., then J.J. Grove) occupied the west half of the first floor until 1916. J. B. Elliott's furniture store first occupied the east half. The building was divided in 1903 when sold to J. E. Davis and A. L. Potter. A firewall was then built through the second floor making this into two buildings. The A. L. Potter Hardware Store can be seen in this photo, occupying the east half of the building. (Farwell T. Brown Photo Archive 10.41.1)
At about the same time, faculty and administration at Iowa State also began to participate in local government. Most notable in this respect was the highly visible role played by Anson Marston, Dean of the Department of Engineering at Iowa State from 1904 until 1932. Marston provided the City of Ames with technical advice concerning numerous municipal improvement projects, notably the water pumping station, the reservoir, the elevated water tank, and the Ames Water Pollution Control System. (Iowa State University Special Collections, Marston papers).
Boosterism began to play a big role in the commercial growth of Ames during the Progressive Era. The local Chamber of Commerce became a major player. Organized in June 1916, the Ames
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Ames Main Street Historic District Story, IA Name of Property County and State Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture, as the association was known, aimed to embrace "business men of Ames, citizens of the town and farmers in the surrounding territory." (Ames City Directory, April 1917, p. 1) A list of the Chamber's standing committees indicates the breadth of the concern to better Ames: finance, judiciary, legislative, public affairs, railway and commerce, retailers, manufacturing, conventions, entertainment, good roads, fire protection, agriculture, civic improvement, and membership (ibid).
Boosterism was particularly successful in two areas: transportation and convention-oriented visitor services. The two have sometimes gone hand-in-hand. When, for example, the Ancient Arabic Order of the Mystic Shriners of North America held their convention in Des Moines, they also held an automobile parade to Ames and ended the convention there. Throughout the Twentieth Century, Ames hosted conventions for many kinds of groups, including professional, fraternal, and club organizations. In 1908, for example, after the State of Iowa enacted the Iowa Drainage Law, a state convention was held in Ames to discuss implementation of this law in 1909. Other conventions followed. Technological and scientific organizations, of course, favored Ames because of the state school (The Ames Times, October 21, 1909).
In 1907 the hub of the central business district was the intersection of Douglas Avenue and Main Street. A 1907 photograph of the central business district by F. J. Bandholtz, photographer of Des Moines, illustrates the point (below). Bandholtz chose this intersection as the viewpoint from which to portray downtown. The point is further emphasized by the fact that Douglas Avenue enjoyed status as the community's premier residential corridor.
Figure 7. A panoramic view of the intersection of Main Street and Douglas Avenue (Library of Congress 2007660925 https://www.loc.gov/item/2007660925/)
Parley Sheldon and Captain Wallace M. Greeley, two prominent local businessmen and community leaders, had also erected rival bank buildings at the intersection of Douglas and Main. The hub of downtown moved west when the Sheldon-Munn was completed in 1916. Greeley also moved his bank across the street and the hub thus became the intersection of Main Street and Kellogg.
The Progressive Era and succeeding years saw 5th Street in transition. Throughout the first quarter of the twentieth century, 5th Street retained a residential character. With construction in 1916 of the Masonic Temple at the corner of 5th and Douglas and the new United States Post Office Building at the corner of 6th and Kellogg, commercial activity began an encroachment which continues today. Further, public transportation routes encouraged commercial growth on 5th Street. By 1900, for example, the Ames & College Railway traversed 5th Street to just east of Duff Avenue, and then, after the engine had been moved to the front of the train, made the return
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Ames Main Street Historic District Story, IA Name of Property County and State trip up 5th Street to the Iowa State University2 campus. The growth of business interests on 5th Street continued following World War II.
By the 1910s the potential for ever-increasing business from the college was evident. The Ames & College Railway (colloquially known as “The Dinkey”) had been hauling students and visitors between Ames and the campus since 1891, but by 1907, when the service was owned by the Fort Dodge, Des Moines & Southern (FDDM&S), enrollment at the college had hit 1,363, and annual rail rides numbered over 403,000, as students and campus visitors frequented downtown businesses (Douglas Biggs, “‘The Laughing Rolling Stock of the State’: The Ames & College Railway, 1902-1907,” The Annals of Iowa (75.2, spring 2016), pg. 110).
The Ames & College Railway (A&C) is one of the best physical indicators of the vital link between Iowa State University and Downtown Ames. The A & C began in 1890 as the Ames Street Railway Company. The approximately 2-mile railway which linked campus and downtown was first known as the “Motor Line” yet was later dubbed the “Dinkey.” The growth in enrollment and prominence of the college had created a need for quicker and more reliable transportation between downtown, with the Chicago & Northwestern Depot, and the college. Two years later, the people of Ames would vote to annex the college campus into the corporate limits of the town. The Dinkey would remain the main source of transportation for Ames residents and visitors to the college between 1891 and 1907. During this time, the Dinkey received exceptionally high traffic--expanding from approximately 40,000 rides annually in 1890 (Biggs, “Forging,” p. 230) to 403,460 in 1906-07 (Biggs, “Laughing,” p. 110)--transporting passengers between the campus and main street area. The Dinkey was decommissioned in 1907, but its successor, the Fort Dodge, Des Moines, & Southern Interurban Streetcar line, added a loop running down Main Street and continued to run until 1929, when it, too, ended service following low ridership and the advent of better all-weather roads and buses in Ames. (Brown pp. 40-42)
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2 Iowa State University was known as Iowa Agricultural College from 1858 – 1898 and Iowa State College from 1898 to 1959.
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Ames Main Street Historic District Story, IA Name of Property County and State
Figure 8. Circa 1900 photo of the Dinkey at the downtown terminal. (Farwell T. Brown Photo Archive 29.145A.2)
The years immediately prior to America's entry into World War I saw widespread expansion and major construction in the central business district and environs. New buildings included the Ames City Hall (1916), the Masonic Temple (1916), the Sheldon-Munn Hotel (1915-1916), and Mary Greeley Hospital (1916). Infrastructure improvements included construction of paved streets, leading to Main Street being paved in 1910, when the name was changed from Onondaga Street. The extent of this construction underlined the strength of the local economy, but it also showed that the community publicly recognized the need to invest in its future through general bond obligations.
The years 1916 and 1917 also saw the first widespread alterations to the facades of to the buildings on Main Street. The Ames Weekly Tribune of May 18, 1916, summed up the building trend neatly, noting, “It seems to take but a start in the improvement line when others fall in and the first thing you know a beautiful lot of business blocks is the result. The many improvements which have been made on the fronts of the Ames business houses during the past few weeks are very noticeable and they add greatly to the looks of the good old town” (p. 8). This trend included, among other projects, extensive remodeling on the south and north sides of Main. In 1916, the purchase of the Spence Building at 138 Main by the Appleby-Wagner Company brought a remodeling of the facade that quickly spread to the next three buildings to the east (136, 134, and 132 Main) when the contractor, H. F. Coates discovered the buildings’ facades depended on each other for support. The instability of the facades led The Ames Evening Times to report that there had been “some talk of a chance for suit” against the Fort Dodge, Des Moines
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Ames Main Street Historic District Story, IA Name of Property County and State & Southern Railway, whose Interurban line’s freight haulage down Main Street had “caused the settling and general shaken down condition” of the buildings in need of stabilization (Ames Evening Times, April 7, 1916, p. 1). Despite the necessity of updates to stabilize these buildings, the positive impact of the facade “facelifts” was praised as a “Big Improvement…one of the big features of the building campaigns planned for the summer in the downtown district and will give Ames, in place of the rather shabby appearance of the old buildings, a series of store fronts that will be a distinct acquisition to the business district of the city” (Ames Evening Times, April 12, 1916, p. 1). On the north side of Main, as improvements moved forward on the south side and the Greeley building was constructed on Douglas Avenue, D. J. Bullock remodeled the front of his hardware store at 125 Main. The Tilden store building at 203-205-207 Main was also being extensively remodeled “into one of the finest business homes in the city…[after] the directors of the store...visited and studied the plans of the most modern stores of the country and... perfected their plans for a store that will be a credit to...this progressive city” (Ames Evening Times, April 6, 1916, p. 1). Then, in 1917, the Perkins and Judisch store fronts at 211 and 209 Main, just west of the Tilden block, were updated simultaneously, with “the same color of brick being used and making the two buildings uniform” (Ames Evening Times, July 12, 1917, p. 1). The newspaper praised these new store fronts, claiming, “Such improvements are making Main street (sic) one of the prettiest streets of any city in the state the size of Ames” (Ibid.). Other facade updates in 1917 included the shoe store at 219 Main and the Loughran drug store at 217 Main (Ames Weekly Tribune, March 15, 1917, p. 1). Additionally, when the Tilden Grocery Store moved to 407-409 Douglas, the Ames Evening Times reported that “a new front of buff colored (sic) brick to match the Greeley block has been built in with a large display window” (June 1, 1917, p. 2).
The Progressive Era was not without growing pains in Ames. For several years prior to World War I, secessionism threatened Ames' development as a modern city. Farwell T. Brown has pointed out in his "Civil War in Ames?" vignette, for example, how in 1914 faculty interests at Iowa State had strongly called for the incorporation of a new town. Commercial rivalry between businesses in the Fourth Ward (now Campustown) and downtown also spurred sectionalism. Public indebtedness for downtown construction brought these issues to an acute head. In 1916 a coalition of commercial and academic interests in the Fourth Ward openly called for the establishment of an independent Town of West Ames. These interests interpreted the public improvements in downtown to have been at the Fourth Ward's expense. While it was true streets remained unpaved in West Ames, Parley Sheldon responded, this was because population was concentrated in the downtown areas. Although secessionism cooled, the issue remained in the courts into 1920.
The outbreak of World War I in Europe in 1914 introduced significant changes at all levels of American life. The war itself greatly stimulated food production in the nation, but overproduction followed as a result. This created a major problem for wheat growers, but corn prices remained relatively stable. The wholesale price index of farm products generally rose during this period and beyond. World War I acted somewhat as a depressant on the local Ames economy because of a 19% decline in student enrollment at Iowa State in 1917.
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Ames Main Street Historic District Story, IA Name of Property County and State BOOM TIME FOR AMES (1918-1941)
The years between the two world wars saw an unstable farm economy followed by the Great Depression. Although the farm products wholesale price index climbed and reached its highest level in 1928, there was already a decline in farm commodity prices before Black Monday in 1929. The Great Depression hit Iowa very hard. By 1932, total farm receipts declined to one- third their amount in 1918. Foreclosures, bankruptcies, and tax delinquencies were exceptionally heavy in Iowa and the Dakotas. Farm operators' equity in land dropped from 62% (1880) to 39% (1935) (Morris, p. 509).
Ames' local economy bucked the trend. Although student populations at Iowa State fluctuated somewhat during the 1920s, total fall enrollment had, by 1930, grown to 4,318; this was a 73% increase over 1919, the first year without the student dislocations of World War I. The presence of major institutions like Iowa State and the Iowa Department of Transportation cushioned the severity of the Great Depression on the local Ames economy. State employment and student populations remained fairly stable during this period, accompanied by a steady demand for basic goods and services. Although student enrollment at Iowa State declined by 8% in 1931, 14% in 1932, and 7% in 1934 from each previous year, by 1934 student enrollment was again increasing. By 1935, the total fall enrollment of 4,412 exceeded the school's previous all-time high: 4,318 in 1930. At the outbreak of World War II in 1941, total fall enrollment at Iowa State stood at 6,220. This increased enrollment helped Ames’ population finally to exceed that of Boone and Oskaloosa (Ames Daily Tribune, June 28, 1940, p.1), reaching 12,555 at the official census count, an increase of 22.4% since 1930 (Ames Daily Tribune, December 26, 1940, p. 1)
The physical growth of Ames downtown dramatically shows a booming local economy during the 1920s. The 300 block on the north side of Main Street is a good example. Built in 1916, the Sheldon-Munn Hotel had heralded this development, but prior to about 1922, the block between the hotel and 329 Main on the corner was all but vacant. This was largely due to that fact that a slough ran through the area. It would later be drained. Within a few years, this block filled with new brick buildings. These buildings included the 1926 addition to the hotel and C. J. Lynch's new building at 313 Main Street. Constructed of quality building materials and with up-to-date architectural designs, this section helped reinforce the corner of Main and Kellogg as the fulcrum of the central business district.
In addition to these new buildings, many business owners in the central business district opted to take on façade renovations, which transformed the image of this section of the city. Older commercial façades were updated with simplified designs. The result of these renovations coupled with the new construction already mentioned radically changed the image of Ames’ central business district from a Victorian Main Street to one characterized by simplicity and utilitarian, no-nonsense architecture.
Commercial nodes adjacent to the central business district also emerged during this period. In 1925, for example, Carr Hardware erected a storage building on South Kellogg. (Ames Daily Tribune, December 31, 1925 p.1) Developed in connection with the sale of heavy products like hardware, heating equipment, and automobile and truck parts and service, this area was dependent on convenient vehicular access for both the delivery of products and for the
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Figure 9. A 1939 Photo of Main Street looking east. The Sheldon-Munn Hotel is on the left at northwest corner of Main and Kellogg; the Rainbow Coffee Shop is at the northeast corner. On the southeast corner is the Ames Trust and Savings Bank. The streetcar tracks had been bricked over sometime after 1929 as seen in this picture. (Farwell T. Brown Photo Archive, 128.703.2- 6)
Finally, as municipal government grew more complex (particularly following World War I), Iowa State faculty and administrators began to serve on more municipal boards and committees. College personnel had a strong tradition of service on the city library board but now they expanded their participation in other city activities, which, like the City Planning Commission established in 1927, were also growing to meet new demands for public service.
AMES AT WAR AND PEACE (1941 AND BEYOND)
Farm prices improved somewhat during World War II, but by 1946 they still stood, in terms relative to 1918 dollars, considerably lower than the pre-World War I period. By contrast, prices began to soar in the 1950s. Prices continued to push upwards through the 1960s and the 1970s saw another period of great prosperity for the farm economy.
Although, historically, Ames was generally able to buck state-wide economic trends from the security offered by Iowa State University, state and national trends of the era determined the population, and thus, commercial influx in Ames brought on by the presence of the college. Prosperity on the farm and the G. I. Bill for returning veterans spelled population explosion for
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Ames Main Street Historic District Story, IA Name of Property County and State Ames. The city's population increased by 82% between 1940 and 1950 when it reached 27,212. In contrast, the population growth during the same period for Iowa City was 53% while that for Des Moines was 11%. The population of Ames continued to grow through the 1980s. In 1990 it stood at 47,198.
Housing starts in Ames reached new highs in the post-war era. New residential areas encircled the pre-war city. In the 1970s, the North Grand Mall was opened in Ames and heralded a new age of consumer retailing. Iowa State students participated in the new affluence and Campustown grew with new service-oriented businesses, restaurants, and retail stores. A second major shopping area developed on the west edge of Ames. These commercial nodes challenged Ames' Main Street for market share. Even before this new commercial competition, many downtown businesses modernized their facades in an attempt to remain relevant and competitive in the Modern Age. In a domino-like effect, subsequent business owners would opt to do the same to keep up with neighboring businesses. The architecture of Ames Main Street Historic District reflects these post-war trends. Within the district, fewer façade renovations were undertaken in the 1950s and 1960s than prior to the war, however, suggesting that commercial interests had become cautious in this area of the city. New construction in the downtown was restricted mostly to financial institutions, which tore down and rebuilt, or to retail buildings that replaced those damaged by fire. Beginning in the late 1960s, new construction often broke the traditional rules. In later years, owners of historic buildings within the district generally turned toward revivalism (as at 220 Main) or the complete alteration of previous eras’ architectural details(as at the Collegian Theatre, 411 Main).
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Figure 10: Ames Main Street in 1958 looking east from the intersection of Kellogg and Main. Shows facades of Main Street buildings on the south side. (Ames Tribune Photo Archive)
The boundaries of the central business district remained mostly static during the era although new businesses (particularly service industries like communications, finance, and human services) replaced older types. Notable expansion, such as the strip commercial developments on Lincoln Way and Duff Avenue, occurred adjacent to the Main Street District, but the buildings within the historic boundaries of the downtown remained adequate to house most of the district's commercial activity.
Notably, the railroad tracks were repositioned in 1966 by removing Chicago & North Western’s switching yard from immediately south of Main Street buildings and repositioning the main line to the south of its former location. From Ames’ founding, the tracks had essentially divided the downtown area from the residential area south of the tracks. With the removal of the switching yard, Downtown Ames gained crucial space to allow for parking lots behind the businesses on Main Street’s south side. In the years following 1966, the city of Ames experienced an increase in face lifts and remodels in the rear of these businesses. The removal of the switching yard, easing of railroad traffic and development of Downtown’s south parking lots are perhaps the most important development on Ames’ Main Street in the past 60 years (best illustrated in figures S7, S8, S9).
Since the 1960s, the commercial area south of the railroad tracks has undergone major
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Ames Main Street Historic District Story, IA Name of Property County and State redevelopment. The extent of new construction here has all but obliterated signs of earlier commercial and light industrial buildings except along South Kellogg Avenue. This area-- bounded by the tracks, Lincoln Way, Duff Avenue, and Grand Avenue--now projects an image of a modern highway commercial strip development.
Significance under Criterion C: Architecture
COMMERCIAL BUILDING DESIGN IN AMES: INFLUENCE OF THE COMMERCIAL STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE, CIRCA 1915-1943
The commercial style strongly influenced buildings in downtown Ames. Architectural firms of Des Moines seemingly introduced the style to the city in the years immediately prior to World War I with the construction of several new buildings. Local contractor-builders in Ames subsequently accepted certain architectural details from these buildings and employed them in many remodeling jobs. Such "Face Lifts on Main" combined with other new buildings in the 1920s to transform the streetscape. Finally, local business people with conservative tastes reaffirmed this influence by continuing to finance such designs years after the influence had peaked in other communities. Examples of these architectural details are outlined and exemplified using various downtown Ames buildings in the “A VOCABULARY OF ELEMENTS EVOLVES” section of this nomination.
The influence of the commercial style of architecture is tangible. Numerous examples confirm that in Ames a limited vocabulary of architectural detailing, influenced by the commercial style, continued to be reflected in new building design into the 1960s.
MAJOR BUILDINGS SET THE STANDARD
Two leaders of the Ames commercial elite, Parley Sheldon and Captain Wallace M. Greeley, set the standard for Ames when they financed the construction of major new buildings prior to World War I. These men employed two different architectural firms. Proudfoot and Bird, architects of Des Moines, became Sheldon's consultant for his hotel. Liebbe, Nourse, and Rasmussen, also Des Moines architects, became Greeley's for his Masonic Hall. Within the next several years, three major buildings went up in the downtown. These buildings still dominate the downtown today. At the time they were constructed, they set the tone for later commercial buildings, which, as often as not, were vernacular interpretations of them and constructed by the local building trades.
The Sheldon-Munn Hotel, designed by Proudfoot and Bird and constructed in 1915-1916, stands as a lynchpin of downtown Ames. Long discussed and wished for in the community, this hotel provided Ames with a convention and community center. As an outstanding example of local boosterism, the building resulted from the joint financial venture of Parley Sheldon and A. H. "Fred" Munn. When constructed, the monumental scale of this building and its key function as a community center virtually shifted the fulcrum of the central business district to the intersection of Kellogg and Main. Although the building is eclectic in design (the first floor storefront employs some Classical Revival motifs, for example), the building's overall feeling projects the
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Ames Main Street Historic District Story, IA Name of Property County and State commercial style of architecture. Significant in this regard is the extensive use of brick for structural and decorative purposes, the imparting of texture to the building through the use of striated brick, emphasis on rectilinear shape and planar surface, and an overall simplicity relieved by brick of contrasting color.
Figure 11. Postcard picture of the Sheldon Munn taken between 1917 and 1919, from Farwell Brown's "Postcards of Ames, Iowa, and Environs" collection (Farwell T. Brown Photographic Archive 79.413.3-5)
A second major building was also constructed in 1915-1916 when the City of Ames undertook the construction of a new city hall and municipal building under the leadership of Mayor Parley Sheldon. Liebbe, Nourse, and Rasmussen designed this building. Erected on the site of Ames previous city hall (and located within a half block of the hotel), the new city hall also employed brick extensively and complemented the new hotel. The Municipal Building and the Masonic Temple are the only buildings in Downtown Ames already listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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Figure 12. Postcard photo of the Municipal Building taken shortly after its completion (Farwell T. Brown Photographic Archive 63.319.1-2)
The third building, a new Masonic Hall, was constructed in 1916 on the corner of 5th and Douglas. Sponsored in part by Wallace M. Greeley, this building was built from designs of Liebbe, Nourse, and Rasmussen, architects of Des Moines. As with the Sheldon-Munn Hotel, the architects used planar surfaces enriched with geometric shapes and contrasting materials for polychromatic effect. Other Liebbe, Nourse, and Rasmussen designs in Ames include the Ames Savings Bank of 1913, Mary Greeley Hospital of 1916, and possibly the redesign of the Greeley House on the comer of 5th and Douglas.
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Figure 13. Photograph of the Masonic Building taken c.1919 (Farewell T. Brown Photographic Archive 96.521.1-3)
A VOCABULARY OF ELEMENTS EVOLVES
Stimulated by the aforementioned buildings, the commercial style of architecture, as practiced in Ames, developed a vocabulary of architectural elements which were repeated again and again and over a long period of time. A lexicon of this vocabulary reads like a list of features which typify the commercial style of architecture. These elements included parapet panels, stringcourses, window enframements, and lintels and sills extended into stringcourses. Local contractor-builders, John and Ben Cole, became masters of these brickwork elements. The elaborate parapet panels, cornices, and stringcourses on façades they constructed remain striking elements of Main Street architecture, notably at 213, 217-219, and 229 Main.
Parapet Panels
The parapet panel achieved widespread employment and became the hallmark of the influence in Ames. The parapet panel is located above the upper floor windows and below the top of the facade. These panels deserve a typology of their own. Generally rectilinear in design, they employ a complexity of brick bondings, enframement techniques, colors, and surface finishes. An idea of this complexity is suggested in the following list of examples of variations found in the Main Street District.
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Ames Main Street Historic District Story, IA Name of Property County and State Simple Panels
Simple panels are those defined by brick protruding from the surface of the parapet as a rectilinear frame, and the panel is infilled with brick laid in running bond. The building at 130 Main illustrates this technique where the frame and the panel are the same color as the exterior wall of the building. A variation can occur when the frame employs a contrasting color, as at 209-211 Main.
Compound (Simple) Panels
Illustrated at 215 Main, here the parapet panel is infilled with brick laid in a bizarre basket- weave bond. 215 Main features polychrome brick of brown, tawny yellow, and tan. A large brick-worked plaque is situated above the second story window with brick laid in rectangular patterns using white-colored brick, as well as the other polychrome colors. It features brick laid in rectangular patterns with white-colored brick outlining rows of rectangles in a sort of checkerboard pattern without solid white infill within outlined squares.
Compound Panels
Illustrated at 213 Main, here the parapet panel is further enriched with smaller subdivisions defined by stretcher bricks and infilled with headers.
Flemish Panels
Flemish bond lends an Old World character to a building. This apparently was used most often in the 1920s in Ames. The building at 313 Main is a fine example.
Checkerboard Panels
Similar to stacked header panels, checkerboard panels are those whose design employs contrasting colored brick used in adjacent squares. Few buildings employ this variation in Ames. One example, 217 Main, projects this image because portions of its basketweave have been painted.
Stacked-Header Panels
Stacked-header panels are those whose bricks are laid as headers in parallel vertical columns. This design achieves great simplicity and boldness. When contrasting brick is used for these panels, as at 323-325 Main, the result can be striking.
Basket weave Panels
This design combines three bricks laid horizontally with three bricks laid vertically. The result makes a bold impact. Infrequently employed to infill parapet panels, the building at 226 Main is one case in point.
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Ames Main Street Historic District Story, IA Name of Property County and State Geometric Panels
In addition to architectural details in rectangular shapes, other geometric shapes also appear in the central business district. The Odd Fellows Temple at 225-227 Main exhibits diamond shaped designs in the parapet area and the Max Duitch building at 327 Main features panels with sharply intersecting angles fabricated of contrasting materials for further dramatic effect.
In addition to the parapet panel, other elements of the commercial style of architecture also influenced design in Ames. Here again, brick played the lead role with a supporting cast of other materials like terra cotta, cast concrete, wood, metal, and glass. Brick was the medium of choice because it was readily available and can be worked in numerous designs limited only by geometry and the brick mason’s skill and budget.
Brick Bonding
Variation of brick bonding adds surface richness to the facade of buildings. This architectural element is used occasionally in the central business district. The building at 125-127 Main employs one course of Flemish bond between seven courses of common bond. This variation of brick pattern adds subtle richness to the building.
Basket weave Brickwork
Basket weave achieves a more direct visual impact than some other brickwork because it creates a bolder statement. The International Order of Odd Fellows Temple at 225-227 employs three sets of basket weave brickwork at the top of this 3-story building's parapet. This design stretches the full length of the facade and because of its boldness is readily visible from the street.
Stringcourses
Stringcourses are bands that typically extend the full-width of the facade. They can be fabricated of materials in contrast to the exterior walls, or they can be fabricated of the same material but worked in some fashion to distinguish the stringcourse from other courses. However they are worked, stringcourses add to the horizontal feeling of a building. The Iowa Railway and Light Building at 131 Main Street is particularly notable. Three stringcourses on the second story project from the wall plane between the windows. Their lintels and sills also extend as stringcourses. Yet another stringcourse is situated on the building's parapet. Because this building has two primary facades, the stringcourses wraparound the building on two sides. Coupled with a beveled corner to the building, this design is all the more remarkable because the architect (as yet unidentified) worked with many constraints. This was a “facelift” design for a building already in place.
Other Brick Detailing
In addition to the brick detailing already mentioned, brickwork also supplied simplified cornices in the central business district. While many buildings were constructed without cornices, brick frequently provides the material for those that occur.
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Enframed Windows
The commercial style of architecture frequently enframed window cavities, sometimes in brick contrasting with the exterior walls and sometimes with the same color. The frame contrasts with the brick bonding of the exterior walls and serves to enrich the total composition. The frame is overlaid in a bond different from the exterior wall, and this too enriches surface textures. The most extensive (and perhaps earliest) example in Ames is the Sheldon-Munn Hotel. Light colored brick here is employed to enframe the windows on the second, third, and fourth floors. It dramatically contrasts with the darker color brick of the exterior walls. Because the building contains 60 windows on the Main Street façade alone, this architectural element adds a major decorative detail to the building.
Fenestration
Upper level fenestration generally is restrained, often featuring double hung sash and simple 1/1, 2/2, or similar window design. While most buildings contributing to the historic district illustrate this design, a few buildings break with this standard and are, because of their rarity in the district, significant for this reason. These non-standard buildings typically feature upper level fenestration of a more elaborate nature, as in the Masonic Hall and the automobile dealership (north side Main).
Polychromy
Varying colors are frequently employed in Ames to add surface interest to buildings. Polychromy is achieved in three ways: through the juxtaposition of bricks differing in structural and decorative elements, through the use of bricks with mottled color, and through bricks coupled with other building materials. The building at 209-211 Main is a fine example of the first, using a variegated, light color brick for its exterior walls coupled with a dark colored brick as an accent. Accents occur as stringcourses above and below the second story windows and as panels in the parapet. The combination of colors and clean lines of the design resulted in a facade of restraint and dignity. The Max Duitch building at 327 Main illustrates the use of different colored bricks within the body of the exterior wall. Mottled bricks occur frequently throughout the central business district. The T.L. Rice building at 323-325 Main illustrates how cast concrete can be coupled with brick to add a further note of polychromatic contrast.
Name Plaque
A popular conceit in the commercial style of architecture, the name plaque was usually fabricated out of cast concrete, terra cotta, or some other material to contrast with that of the exterior walls. The name plaque as an architectural element was used infrequently in Ames. The Odd Fellows Hall at 225-227 Main is an exception. The plaque here is fabricated of cast concrete. Another, rather late example, is at 206 Main. The plaque here is a simple, cast concrete rectangle impressed with "P. Frangos Bldg".
Mortar Joints
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Mortar can be variously applied between bricks to achieve decorative design and/or add weather resistance to a building. Mortar can also be colored to contrast stone and brick. The commercial style of architecture used these simple techniques to achieve certain surface textures. The building at 323-325 Main, for example, possesses deeply raked mortar joints. The interplay of natural light and deeply raked joints combines with the multicolored dark red and dark orange brick to achieve richly textured qualities of coloration and shade.
Paired Second Story Windows
Although some examples can be encountered in the central business district, paired second story windows are not widely employed. Their rarity suggests a professional architect design, a hypothesis supported by the fact that the buildings which employ them have other sophisticated elements, such as brick bonding variation that also points to professional design. The building at 125-127 Main employs paired windows. Their configuration adds to the horizontal feeling of the building. Another example includes the Douglas Avenue facade of the building at 131 Main.
Combination Sill and/or Lintel and Stringcourse
A common architectural conceit in Ames, this design extends the window sill and/or lintel across the entire width of the building. Sills and lintels are fabricated of the same material as the rest of the stringcourse. This material is usually brick like the example at 125-127 Main, but it can also be cast concrete.
Transom with Luxfer-Type Prismatic Glass
Although mostly covered at present, 315-317 Main Street retains Luxfer-type glass in the transom above the building's entrance to the second floor. As previously mentioned, the Masonic building features stunning examples of Luxfer-type glass transoms.
PERIODS OF SIGNIFICANCE
The period of significance of the Main Street District, under National Register Criterion A, dates from 1891 to 1967. The growth of Iowa State in the 1890s coupled with the construction of the Ames and College rail link brought a new era to commerce in Ames. This period of significance remains consistent with historical facts and embraces many buildings in Ames which were newly built and “facelifted” beginning in the 1910s.
The historic period of significance of the Main Street District, under National Register Criterion C, dates from circa 1915 to 1967. Transformation of facades to suit the commercial, unified style came flourished in Ames around 1937. From 1936-1938, 16 buildings on Main Street underwent renovations – mostly to the façades (City of Ames Inspections Permits). The renovations on Main at this time could have been a response to the construction of the Grand Avenue underpass which was completed in 1938 by Ben Cole and Sons. The underpass lies a block west of the district, yet at the time the underpass was a major development for Main Street as it allowed for
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The Ames Main Street Historic District is unusual among many Iowa downtowns because the dominant architectural image it projects is “Twentieth Century.” The trend that historian William C. Page characterizes as "Facelifts on Main,” began in Ames prior to World War I and eventually resulted in a radical alteration of the façades of Victorian era commercial buildings as building owners “updated” the façades of their buildings over the following decades up through the 1960s. These buildings powerfully express a vigorous commercial life in the central business district driven by a group of conservative, no-nonsense business leaders. Though renovations occurred throughout this time period, there were three major four-year waves of façade revitalizations: 1927-31(7 remodels3), 1937-41 (19 remodels), 1964-68 (18 remodels). During this latter wave, many minor rear renovations were completed to accommodate second storefronts, which opened up following the movement of rail tracks directly south of these buildings in 1966, which became a parking lot to accommodate the customers of various businesses within the district. During this time period, Main Street Ames was transformed from a commercial district dominated by latenineteenth-century designs to a district characterized by simplified, efficient, utilitarian facades. Because this transformation in Ames was so universal, the central business district possesses a unity of architectural design. Although many Iowa towns have representative examples of 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s architecture in their business districts, these examples usually punctuate the Victorian era core which forms the standard stock. It is unusual in Iowa for a downtown to consist primarily of mid-twentieth century designs, which is what makes Ames Main Street Historic District distinct and significant.
The Ames Main Street Historic District features a particularly rich palette of brick coloration and texture. During the first half of the twentieth century, the use of varieties of brick coloration and surface textures dramatically increased throughout the country. Louis Sullivan noted in 1911, for example, that “... So small a thing as a brick has wrought a significant modification in the architectural art ... " (quoted in Bayer, 1986). Merchants in Ames showed strong predilections to employ these new materials. Many shades of yellow, orange, red, and brown brick are evident in buildings in the commercial district. Some buildings use multi-colored brick while some buildings employ different colored brick. Cast concrete is also used for architectural detailing. Simple planar surfaces are enriched with textural interest through the employment of a wide range of brick bonding, stringcourses, and other decorative devices. Because these architectural details are used ubiquitously on both new buildings and “facelifted” buildings, the Ames Main
3 According to building permits for Main Street buildings, 7 permits were issued between 1927-31 for façade or major structural upgrades with three of these permits being issued to multi-address blocks—(1927) 301-311 Main; (1928) 319-321 Main; (1931) 217-219 Main.
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SIGNIFICANT LOCAL ARCHITECTS
Allen H. Kimball was the most active architect in Ames between the two World Wars. As the first head of the Department of Architectural Engineering (now the Department of Architecture) at Iowa State University (1917-46), he was an important local figure. However, the consistent quality of his public, semi-public, and residential buildings, both on the Iowa State campus and throughout Ames, is also notable. As supervising architect for ISC from 1915-1946, he was responsible for designing nine buildings on campus, including the Old Field House (1920, razed in 1953), the Horse Barns and Ruminant Nutrition Laboratory (1929, in conjunction with Buildings and Grounds Staff), the original Genetics Laboratory (1932), the Agricultural By- Products Laboratory (now the Nuclear Engineering Laboratory, 1934), the Stange Memorial Clinic at the Veterinary Medical School (1936), and the Naval Armory (1942, an addition to the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory). He also formed architectural partnerships with colleagues Harold Sprague, Robert Bailie, Clinton Cowgill, and Charles Bowers over his career, for designing numerous other buildings in Ames. Examples of this collaborative work include the Harris W. Stafford home at 723 Duff Avenue (1921, with Robert Mills Bailie and Clinton Cowgill); Roosevelt School (1923, with Robert Mills Bailie and Clinton Cowgill); the Iowa State Highway Commission Building (1923); Beta Theta Pi Fraternity, 2120 Lincoln Way (1925); Collegiate Methodist Church (1926); St. John’s Episcopal Church (1929); Pi Beta Phi Sorority, 208 Ash Avenue (ca. 1920s); Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity, 140 Lynn Ave. (ca. 1920-27); Iowa State College (ISC) Central Stores Building (1933, 1936-37); ISC Agricultural By-Products Laboratory (1934); the Charles Gwynne home, 3102 West St. (ca. 1937, with Charles F. Bowers); the Mary Greeley hospital addition (ca. late 1930s, with Charles F. Bowers); Ames Public Library addition (1939-40, with Charles F. Bowers); McFarland Clinic [now Ames Publishing Company, 317 5th St.] (1940, with Charles F. Bowers); the W. H. Pierre home, 3403 Oakland St. (ca. 1940, with Charles F. Bowers): and the Florence Fallgatter home, 2122 Greeley St. (ca. 1940, with Charles F. Bowers).
Kimball, who held degrees from the University of California and MIT, was well traveled, having studied architecture in Europe before taking up a position teaching architecture at the University of Illinois. After moving to Ames, he became a three-time president of the Iowa Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) (1918, 1919, and 1920). In 1950, four years after his death, Iowa State honored him by establishing an architecture award in his name. The award recognizes an Iowa State student for outstanding service to the department community. (Shank, page 96-7; Iowa State University Special Collections, n.p.).
Robert Mills Bailie. Kimball’s design partner on the Munn garage project was also part of the firm Kimball, Bailie, and Cowgill, which was responsible for the design of Ames’ Roosevelt School, now a National-Register-listed property. Bailie, who had been born in Storm Lake, Iowa, and died young at age 41, had been Kimball’s student at the University of Illinois before moving to Iowa to work for the firm of Proudfoot, Bird, and Rawson. Following four years with that firm, Bailie joined the department his former professor headed at Iowa State. (Cardinale-Pett, Leslie, and Pritchard, n.p.).
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Ames Main Street Historic District Story, IA Name of Property County and State
Clinton H. Cowgill. Cowgill, a Kansas native, taught at Iowa State from 1920 to 1928, when he became the first head of the Department of Architectural Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI), a position he held until 1956. VPI's architecture and design building, Cowgill Hall, which was built in 1968, was named in his honor. Cowgill continued to practice architecture in Virginia and remain active in publishing until his retirement in 1961 (Shank, page 47). The Max Duitch Building at 327 Main Street was a Cowgill-designed, Cole-constructed building, while 208-214 5th Street was designed by Kimball, Bailie, and Cowgill and built by Cole.
Ben Cole. Contractor/builder, Ben Cole, was, perhaps, best known for concrete construction projects, such as Ames' Grand Avenue underpass, completed in 1938, and other bridges around the state. Cole's lifelong contribution to the City of Ames was commemorated at his death in 1939 by a memorial plaque, which was placed at the north approach to the Grand Avenue Underpass. In addition to this work in concrete, however, Cole and his firm (variously configured with his brothers or sons as part of the crew) was known for work on several Iowa State University buildings (the Chemical Engineering Addition, 1931; addition to the Central Stores, 1937; and Elm Hall, 1938), the 1920s Cranford Apartment Building (corner of Lincoln Way and Stanton Ave.), Louise Crawford School (1930), and the Ames High School building (1938-39). In downtown Ames, Cole also built the 1926 addition to the Sheldon-Munn Hotel at 309-311 Main, the Fareway Grocery Store at 417 Kellogg (1938), and the Masonic Hall at 411- 429 Douglas Avenue (1916), among others. Cole's brickwork also seems to have been a popular “face-lift” for buildings along Main Street in the 1920s and '30s, when his firm remodeled facades at 213, 215, 217, and 315-317 Main. On a number of occasions, including the property at 417 N. Duff, Cole executed designs by Kimball and/or one or more of his frequent partners, Bailie and Clinton H. Cowgill.
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